


Fly Away Home

by wheninriverdale



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017), bughead - Fandom
Genre: Bipolar Disorder, F/M, Love, Riverdale, bughead - Freeform, i promise this has a happy ending
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-23
Updated: 2018-05-23
Packaged: 2019-05-10 09:35:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14734478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wheninriverdale/pseuds/wheninriverdale
Summary: Betty couldn't remember how to be happy. For so long she'd been stuck in a place she refused to call home, but never had the courage to leave. She dreamed of far off places where people didn't know her past, places where she could make a future for herself. But could she leave her little hometown of Riverdale, knowing she'd be leaving her heart behind with it?





	Fly Away Home

**Author's Note:**

> So I was driving past the airport by my house one night and was just awestruck by how beautiful it was. And that one moment led to this story. Stick with me on this one, it will have a happy ending.
> 
> Comments & kudos keep me going! Let me know if you like it and thanks for reading! It means a lot more than you know.

Betty watched the lights glimmer in the valley, dazed by their beauty. She loved to come here just as the moon began to rise , the sky a magnificent magenta as the world turned over for another night. Leaning back against the hood of her car, she watched in silent envy as the airplanes took off one by one down the runway, taking their passengers wherever their hearts desired.

The air was thick with humidity that night. Betty felt the rush of the wind against her skin as each plane took off into the starry sky. In her mind she fantasized about each and every possible destination the planes were headed for; Montreal, Paris, Italy, the Caribbean, or maybe just Los Angeles. Betty’s breath caught in her throat as she imagined buckling her seat belt and taking off into a sea of stars, never looking back on the town where she’d grown up.

The blinking lights reflected in her eyes as she continued to watch in amazement. Overlooking the airport never got old. Each time was like the first time when Betty drove to the top of the hillside. This was her place, her safe haven. Whenever she was feeling lost and misunderstood she came here to imagine what her life would be like if she took the plunge and bought that ticket, promising her an escape from everything she wanted to forget.

But then his face would surface in the back of her mind and Betty would remember that he was the reason she never left.

Beside her on the hood her cellphone buzzed, pulling her back into reality.

“Hey,” she smiled into the receiver. “I was wondering when you would call.”

Betty listened to the laugh she’d grown to love on the other end of the line. “I told you I’d call once I got off my shift. Have you been staring at your phone waiting for me to call?” Jughead asked jokingly.

“No, I do have a life outside of you, you know.” Betty replied, just as another plane took off overhead, engines roaring in the background.

“Where are you?” Jughead asked.

Betty smiled softly to herself, leaning back until she was lying on the hood, staring straight up into the blanket of stars that littered the sky. “Nowhere important,” she breathed, absentmindedly running a hand through her hair. “But I’ll be home soon.”

She could hear him sigh over the static on the line. “What’s wrong?” Jughead asked. And Betty knew exactly what he was doing at the moment. It was what he did every time he thought Betty was getting bad again. “Betty?”

“Nothing’s wrong Jug. I’ll be home soon.” She forced her voice to sound a little lighter, happier so that he wouldn’t worry about her.

Betty heard the spark of a match being lit on the other end of the line. “I wish you wouldn’t lie to me.” But she hung up before dignifying him with any sort of response.

She watched one last plane take flight before returning to her car and revving the ignition. Unable to gather up the courage to leave, Betty pressed her forehead into the curve of the steering wheel and silently cried.

She wasn’t getting bad again. She was worse than bad. She was broken.

On her drive home, Betty repeated to herself that she was alright and happy. Over and over again she repeated the mantra, “I am happy,” as many times as it took until she believed those three little words. Once home she pulled into the driveway, sitting there in the dark as the engine idled beneath her. She began to wonder what being happy even meant.

It wasn’t long before Jughead was knocking on her window and reaching for the door handle. He unbuckled her seatbelt and removed the keys from the ignition. With some difficulty he pulled her from the car and into his arms, holding her as he led her inside the house. Neither of them muttered a single word in the silence, instead letting it sink into their skin like acid.

Jughead guided Betty into the bedroom, helping her first out of her shoes and then her clothes. Betty wanted to speak, but didn’t know what to say, for fear that her voice would give her away.

Across the room she could see her reflection in the dresser mirror. She barely looked alive.

“I knew it.” Jughead mumbled under his breath as he tucked Betty beneath the covers, gently running his hand along her hair as she clung to the sheets.

“Don’t.” she pleaded. Her throat was sandpaper as she spoke.

Jughead sidled into the bed beside her and laid so that they were face to face. Betty tried to hide the fact that she’d been crying but Jughead knew her better than that.

“How long has it been?” he asked, and she knew exactly what he meant.

She’d been off her medications for a while now. Betty tried to hide that fact from Jughead, but she knew he'd find out. He always had a way of knowing her better than she ever knew herself.

“Three weeks.” Betty whispered, staring into Jughead’s steely gaze. Even in the dark of their bedroom she could detect the worry in his eyes. The way the lines traced his forehead, telling a story of the hell Betty had put him through the past few years.

She always wondered why he stayed. Betty was an anchor weighing Jughead down into a sea of despair. But despite her endless string of mood swings and erratic emotions, she loved him. Betty loved Jughead more than words could possibly describe. Theirs was a love story unlike any other, and once upon time they had been happy. They used to share soft smiles and delicate kisses with promises of a love that always left them begging for more. There was once a time where Betty believed Jughead hung the Earth, the moon and all of the stars. But Betty had forgotten what love once felt like. And as the years wore on she forgot what it felt like to feel anything at all.

All she felt was empty.


End file.
